Road To Becoming A Master
by Soxman
Summary: Being a Pokemon Master is hard work. But it's a journey that can take a person far. Follow Daniel Knight as he leads by example.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Follow Daniel Knight (RED) as he journeys through Kanto and beyond. This starts out with Firered/Leafgreen, and continues on through Ruby/Saphire/Emerald and D/P/Platinum. Pairings have yet to be determined. Perhaps making a stop at Heartgold/Soulsilver along the way. Oh yeah; no 4 move limit, and there may come a point where some characters have more than six Pokémon. I hope you enjoy. Oh, and I don't own Pokemon. Merry Christmas!

Chapter One: The Journey of A Thousand Miles

Daniel Knight wasn't obsessed with becoming a Pokémon trainer. Really he wasn't. He just liked to take the opportunities life gave him. Like reading every book he could get his hands on about Pokémon since the age of four. Or doing work for the Pokémon professor in town, Professor Oak, since he was seven. Or memorizing various facts about certain Pokémon, and moves they could use- and the various cities of the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh region, and especially the cities with gyms. Or his constant arguing with his rival Gary Oak, the professor's grandson, how he was going to be a better trainer than Gary. And here he was at the age of twelve in Pallet town, just ready to get started on his journey.

In fact, the boy in question was spending the day watching the tall grass where Pokémon sometimes hid, imagining what his life as a trainer would be like. He'd been preparing for this moment for years. Soon he'd have his first Pokémon, and then, look out world.

Childish illusions aside, he knew that this would be tough. He had never been away from home before. And with all that he'd read and studied; he'd never had a chance to put it into practice. Would his Pokémon like him? Would it at least listen to him? He'd always heard the professor talk about how he wished he could complete his Pokémon encyclopedia; his crowning achievement. The professor wanted to build a library of every Pokémon in the world, and all their moves, habits, and locations. Danny had been helping him with this goal for years. And he was determined to not disappoint the professor, the man who was like a father figure to him.

His real father had left before he could remember. His mother had commented a few times over the years how much he'd looked like his father. He had the same spiky black hair, the same blue eyes, and the same kind face. But a red cap adorned his head. A cap that made his hair look more like his mother's. She appreciated the gesture even if she never said anything.

His thoughts turned to her as he worried how she'd be after he left her all alone. She still had the professor, a man she'd grown close to over the years. But it hurt him that he was leaving her all alone, just like his father…

He'd been staring at the road away from Pallet town for an hour now. Getting up, he brushed the grass off his white tea-shirt and jeans. A gust of wind blew his hat off his head and towards the road. He ran after it, and caught his hat just as a familiar firm hand clamped down on his shoulder to prevent him from going further. He looked up to see the Pokémon professor and his mentor, Samuel Oak, was the one who stopped him from going farther.

"Danny, if I've taught you anything, I hope it's going into the wild without Pokémon is dangerous," Oak scolded.

"I'm sorry, professor. I wasn't going into the wild, I was just going after my hat," Dan replied shamefaced.

Oak sighed. "I was hoping to wait, but I see that whether I am willing or not, the world outside will continue to call you. So be it. Come with me." He commanded, removing the hand from Danny's shoulder. The grey haired professor turned on his heel and began walking at a brisk pace back towards his lab. Danny fell into lock step behind him.

Five minutes later they were in the familiar site of Oak's lab. Danny had been here many times over the years, helping the professor with his research. So the many computers, books, and parts strewn across the lab were a familiar site. What wasn't a familiar site was Gary Oak standing in the back of lab.

Gary Oak, the professor's grandson, on a day when Danny was feeling polite, was a moron, a braggart, and someone who could bring out the worst in Danny without trying. Just as tall as Danny but with spiky brown hair and dark black eyes, he was the exact opposite. Whereas Danny had been studying for years, and working hard with the professor, Gary was all talk; someone who expected to pick up a pokéball, release a Pokémon, and magically have everything work out. And he was standing impatiently waiting for the professor to give him his first Pokémon.

"Gramps! I'm fed up with waiting! Are you going to give me a Pokémon today?" shouted Gary.

"Patience, Gary. I've tried hard to teach you how much of a virtue patience is. I see a reminder is in order." He turned to Danny. "Go on Danny, choose a starter Pokémon. The three starters are Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur. Choose wisely."

"Hey, no fair, Gramps! I was waiting here all day! I should get to choose first!" screamed Gary.

The professor was apparently tired of hearing it. "Shut up, Gary," he commanded.

Danny was using the time to circle around the table, looking at the three pokéballs. He'd already decided not to take Bulbasaur. So he was stuck between choosing Charmander and Squirtle. Finally, he decided to go with his gut.

He picked up the pokéball with Charmander in it. He turned to professor Oak. "I'll take this Charmander, professor," he said.

Gary walked over and grabbed the Squirtle pokéball, obviously hoping to get an advantage over Charmander. "I'll take this one Gramps," declared Gary as Danny just noticed how the professor cringed whenever Gary said "Gramps."

Danny was about to walk home and tell his mother about getting his Pokémon when he heard Gary issue him a challenge. "Hey loser, how 'bout a battle?

And before he knew it, Danny had pulled his pokéball and released his Charmander. It fell to the ground, its long orange body highlighting its magnificent burning tail. Gary sent out his Squirtle, which looked exactly like a turtle except for his blue body. The two Pokémon began circling each other, sizing each other up.

"Squirtle! Tackle that Charmander!" shouted Gary. The Squirtle jumped up in the air ready to come down on Charmander.

"Dodge and use scratch, Charmander," Danny commanded calmly. Charmander stepped to the right, and then scratched the top of Squirtle's head as it crash landed. The impact of the landing and the scratch attack disoriented Squirtle.

"Tackle it again!" shouted Gary. The Squirtle ended up crashing to the floor again.

"Finish it with scratch," commanded Danny. Another scratch attack from Charmander's sharp claws and Squirtle was down for the count. Gary looked on miserably.

"Good battle," offered Danny politely.

Gary brushed it aside angrily. "Next time we battle, I'll win," he declared defiantly. "Gramps, see ya' later." And with that, Gary left, his usual swagger absent.

Oak turned to Danny. "Congratulations on your first victory, Danny."

Danny smiled at his mentor. "Thanks a lot professor. And for all your help over the years too; I would never have won without all you've taught me." He looked at Oak's last pokéball. "If I find another trainer just starting out, should I send him to you for that Pokémon?"

"Sure, just send them along, Danny. Anyway, you should probably tell your mother about your day," reminded Oak. That got Danny back on task.

Two minutes later, and he was in front of a familiar all white house with a red roof; home. He walked inside to the familiar living room. It had a TV in the center of the room with couch placed so three people could watch it. On one end of the room was a staircase right by a table holding an ornate lamp his mother loved. At the other end was a small kitchen with a refrigerator, oven, microwave, and sink. And right by the kitchen was a dining table for four. On the top level of the house was Danny's room, right next to his mother's room, and a bathroom. It was small, but it was home.

"Mom, I'm home." He had the wind knocked out of him by a familiar face.

"Danny! How was your day!" Danny gestured to the pokéball at his hips. His mother beamed at him. "Congratulations!" she shouted, engulfing him in another hug. "So you finally got your first Pokémon. What are going to do now?"

"I was going to take Charmander and do some training in the woods, mom." He answered honestly. "I'll be back for dinner."

His mother scratched his hair affectionately. "I'm sure that you can be a fine Pokémon trainer, Danny. Just remember to use what Sam taught you. I'll see you for dinner."

Danny left the house and headed to the woods. Once he reached a clearing, he released his Charmander. "All right, Charmander. We're going to work on some moves today. You already know scratch and growl. So let's work on ember. We're going to need that attack in the coming battles. So first calm down." He saw his Charmander try to act calm. "Now let spit out some flames!" Charmander tried, but the fire he produced wasn't good enough to burn a leaf. "Calm down, and let's try again."

Two hours later, and Charmander still hadn't produced flames good enough to burn a leaf. He looked to be on the verge of tears. Danny knelt down and pulled him into a hug, just like he'd seen professor Oak do so many times.

"It's all right Charmander. I understand it's difficult and you must feel awful you can't do it. But we'll get this attack down. I know you can do it eventually. Just relax. There's no pressure." Charmander held on tightly. "I'll always be there for you. You'll never disappoint me." A few minutes passed with Charmander clinging to Danny. "Are you ready to try again?"

Charmander got back into position, following Danny's advice. And this time, he let loose a breath of flame that turned a pile of leaves to cinder. "Excellent, Charmander, you did it! I knew you could do it!" An hour later, and they'd mastered that attack and it was time for dinner. But first, Danny had to wrap up training. "You did a great job, Charmander. I'm really proud of you." Charmander bounced up and down in joy as Danny put him back in his pokéball.

Dinner that night was uneventful. His mother served pasta and meatballs. And there was little to no chatter over dinner. After dinner ended his mother turned to Danny. He was surprised to see tears in her eyes.

"So when are you leaving?" she asked tonelessly.

"Mom, I won't leave if you don't want me to," Danny whispered back.

His mother pulled him into a hug. "That's very sweet Danny. But I couldn't do that to you. You have dreams, aspirations; a life ahead of you. And I'll be here when you get back from your journey." She clung to him. "I've watched you as you fell in love with the world of Pokémon. How you learned from Sam how to feed a Pokémon, how to heal one. And through it all, you never left me. You were always there for me. So I'm going to be there for you." She walked over to the china vase by the staircase and reached inside. "Here," she said as she withdrew a wad of bills. "I've been saving up some money for you." She walked over to Danny and put the money in his hand. "I believe in you. I know you can do it. Go out there and make me proud, son." And with that she walked to the dining room table and began clearing dishes.

Danny stood rooted to the ground before he walked over and hugged his mother goodbye. "I've got to go to Viridian City, mom. I should be back tomorrow, I love you." And with that, he left his home. He was about to go into the wilderness, to head towards Viridian city. This was the moment he had been training for. He was ready. Anxiously, as if expecting trouble, or a sudden distraction, he began walking into the forest.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: I don't own Pokémon. I am uncertain about writing a Pokémon fanfic, and the response it's gotten. If it really is that bad, or doesn't do the anime justice, tell me, and I will drop this and put something else, maybe something Dragon Age or Mass Effect, in its place. Thank you, and Happy New Years.

Chapter Two: Begins With a Single Footstep

Here he was, in Viridian city. He'd been walking all night, battling the various wild Pokémon he'd encountered on his journey. They'd defeated a dozen Pidgey and Rattatas along the way, Charmander growing increasingly satisfied after every victory. And Charmander, in his last few battles, had used a few different moves, though he'd been unable to repeat them after the battle ended. Against one Rattata, he'd used a Metal Claw attack. Against a Pidgey, he'd used Flare Blitz. He'd bitten another Pidgey, and he'd used Dragon Rush to take down another Rattata. His Charmander was a lot stronger than he thought. And they'd made it to Viridian city in good time.

Viridian city was a small city with lots of houses and people, a Pokémon center and supply store, and a _gym_. Danny knew he wasn't ready to take on a gym yet; he needed some more Pokémon first. And to get more Pokémon, he needed some pokéballs. But first, after all the fighting his Charmander did, he needed to get it healed; so the Pokémon center was his first stop.

He walked into the red roofed building and up to the counter, where a pink-haired Nurse Joy was on duty.

"Excuse me, Nurse Joy, but can you heal my Pokémon." He said as he handed his pokéball to her. She took it and brought it into the backroom. Fifteen minutes later, she brought his Charmander back.

"Your Pokémon is healed and ready to go. I hope you have a nice day," she said as she handed him back his pokéball. He thanked her and left for the store.

He walked into the blue-roofed building five minutes later. It wasn't busy. Walking up the counter, he saw the old familiar face of Mr. Morrison, someone Professor Oak had invited to Pallet Town many a time.

"Hey, Mr. Morrison, do you have any pokéballs?" asked Danny.

"Sorry Dan, but we're out of those," Mr. Morrison's replied in a gruff voice. "But could you do me a favor?" Danny nodded. "Take this package to Sam for me." He handed him a sealed package.

Since he couldn't get any pokéballs here, he might as well go back to the professor and deliver the package. It must be important; Mr. Morrison handled a lot of shipping and handling for the professor. If it wasn't important, then Mr. Morrison would have just put it in professor Oak's mail pile. And so Danny had no choice but to turn around and journey back to Pallet town.

A few hours later and Danny was back in Pallet town. But as they battled various wild Pokémon on the way back; there was no mistaking the fact that Charmander knew more attacks than just scratch, growl, and ember. He might not have mastered some of the attacks he used, like Metal Claw, or Flare Blitz, but under duress, he knew how to use them. He was going to have to try and train Charmander in these different types of moves. They could be useful.

But now he was right at Professor Oak's lab. Except that the door was closed. That was strange… the professor always kept his door opened in the summers because of how hot his lab got without fresh air. Was he out? If so, then Danny would just drop in, see his assistant, and give him the package. Danny went around to the other side of the lab, and used the backdoor that the professor kept hidden from everyone in town, except him, to get into the lab. Once he was finally inside the lab, Danny heard voices.

"You will tell us where your research model is, professor. Or things will get ugly." That came from a menacing voice that wasn't the professor or his assistant. Curious, and wary, Danny snuck over to the professor's main office door. Inside, he saw a grunt with a big red "R" emblazoned on his shirt standing over the bound forms of professor Oak and his assistant. A Team Rocket grunt.

Team Rocket was a newly founded organization that had been stealing Pokémon and making trouble for the cities of the Kanto and Johto region. And they had apparently decided that they needed something from the professor. It looked, from how messy Oak's office was, that the grunt had caught him and his assistant off guard, there had been a struggle, and the grunt had won.

"I won't tell you anything," responded professor Oak defiantly. The Grunt was apparently close to losing his patience. Fearing for the professor's safety, Danny silently released Charmander.

"Charmander, use ember on that grunt," Danny whispered. Charmander nodded and spit out a breath of flames that put the grunt's shirt on fire. Once the grunt noticed, he ran around screaming in a circle, before Danny knocked him out by tackling him into a wall. Once the grunt was out cold and the fire on his shirt was out, Danny pulled out his pocket knife and began cutting the professor and his assistant loose.

Once he'd freed both of them, they had tied up the grunt, called the police, and removed his pokéballs. He had six.

"Are you all right professor?" asked Danny. He was concerned that the grunt might have roughed him up beforehand.

The professor waved it off. "I'm fine Danny. Just a little annoyed at being caught off guard."

The professor's gruff tone reminded Danny about the package he had to deliver. "Oh, yeah professor, when I was in Viridian City, Mr. Morrison gave me this package for you." He handed the sealed brown package to his mentor. The professor quickly unsealed it to find a box and he began laughing. He took the box and walked over to his desk and began throwing things together and tinkering with what looked like two red books.

"Hey professor, do you mind if I read your latest research notes?" asked Danny. He was kind of bored, waiting for the police, and he wanted something to do. The professor gave a nod, and Danny walked over to a bookcase, and took out a notebook marked "evolution."

He was reading for a half-hour before the police finally arrived. A blue haired officer Jenny in standard blue attire entered the lab.

"Hello professor, we received a call about Team Rocket activity about a half-hour ago. We got here as fast as we could," she said in a brusque tone.

The professor recounted the afternoon events concerning the grunt. After he spoke for ten minutes about what happened, the officer led them over to the bound Team Rocket grunt. The officer began the interrogation.

"You are a member of Team Rocket?"

The grunt seeing no other option, decided on the truth. "Yes."

"You broke into professor Oak's lab with the intention of stealing his research?"

"Yes."

"You used Stolen Pokémon to try and steal the research?"

"Yes."

At this, Danny asked a question. "What stolen Pokémon were you given?"

The officer glared at him for interrupting her, but the grunt answered, "A Squirtle, a Bulbasaur, a Dratini, a Pichu, a Growlithe, and an Abra." The professor, Danny, and the officer all stared at the grunt.

"Why did they give you so many powerful Pokémon?" they asked in unison.

The grunt snorted. "Team Rocket really wanted that research!"

The officer continued questioning him. After five minutes, she handcuffed him and took him away. She left the stolen Pokémon in professor Oak's care. The professor immediately released the Pokémon, all who looked quite hostile towards him and Danny. An angry Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Dratini, Pichu, Growlithe, and Abra were an intimidating site- the professor backed away. Danny released his Charmander just in case.

"Relax," Danny commanded in a calm voice. Over the years, he'd picked up from the professor how to communicate with Pokémon. "We're not going to hurt you." The Pokémon looked like they didn't believe him. They all had looks of varying anger and distrust etched on their faces. Danny held up his hands to show he meant no harm. "What can I do to assure you that I'm not a threat?" He asked. The Pokémon looked defiant. "I'm not going to hurt you; I'm not with Team Rocket." He still received angry looks. "Professor, get some food and water," he whispered. The professor scurried off. "You won't ever have to work for Team Rocket again. Here," the professor arrived back in the nick of time, "some food and water," the professor placed a food and water bowl in front of Danny, and then backed away swiftly. The Pokémon still looked angry. But looks of hunger and thirst flashed across all their faces. But still they refused to move. Both Danny and the Pokémon remained in a Mexican standoff for another fifteen minutes.

Then, Gary Oak charged through the door. "Hey Gramps, what's with all the Pokémon? Can I have them?" This, to a crowd of angry Pokémon who'd recently been imprissioned, was the wrong thing to say. The Pokémon all looked ready to charge at Gary when Danny stepped in front.

"No, don't hurt him. He might be an idiot, but he hasn't done anything to you." The Pokémon weren't appeased by that and started moving towards them. "I can never understand how horrible it must have been for you to be captured by Team Rocket. But taking it out on him isn't the answer. That's what Team Rocket would want you to do." That struck a sour note with the Pokémon, and they stopped moving closer to Gary and Danny. Seeing a way forward, Danny pressed on. "Team Rocket would want you to hate the world. Why would you want to give Team Rocket what they want?" Looks of guilt flashed across the faces of Pichu and Dratini. "We, Gary, the professor, and I, aren't going to hurt you. Please, trust use. You all look close to starving. Please eat." That did it and the Pokémon charged towards the food. Within seconds, there was nothing left. "I think they need seconds, professor," Danny whispered. He nodded and got them more food.

A few hours later, the released Pokémon were full and being contentedly pet by Danny. He found the right spots to scratch that relaxed the Pokémon. Gary looked on jealously as all six of the released Pokémon, and his Charmander, flocked to Danny. Before he could say anything, professor Oak reentered the room with the two red books Danny had seen him working on earlier.

"Gary, Danny, here is my crowning achievement. I give you- _the pokedex_." He finished excitedly.

Danny's eyes lit up. "You finally did it, professor! Congratulations!"

Gary, as usual, was lost. "What's so special about that?" he scoffed.

As usual, Danny had to resist the urge to hit Gary. "This is what your Grandpa's been working on for years, Gary. It's a portable encyclopedia of Pokémon."

Gary finally caught on. "Oh, so it's a Pokémon database."

"Yes Gary, it's a Pokémon database," answered Danny.

Oak ignored the verbal sparring. "I'm going to give you both a pokedex, seeing as you both plan on taking the Kanto League challenge. In your travels, record any Pokémon you come across. The fate of this project rests in your hands. And to help you with your travels, I'll also give you five pokéballs."

Gary grabbed his pokedex and the pokéballs. "Hah, I'm going to be a Pokémon master and catch every Pokémon I come across. We don't even need to have this loser involved."

Danny calmly took the items the professor gave him. "Thanks professor, for giving me this opportunity. I'm going to go see my mom before I depart Pallet town." He got up and returned his Charmander to his pokéball. As he headed for the door all the released Pokémon he'd befriended had a betrayed look on their face.

The professor spotted it. In a second, he made his decision. "Before you leave Pallet town, Danny, could you return to the lab one more time?"

Danny was confused- why did the professor need to see him before he left on his journey. The professor could be very mysterious sometimes. "Sure professor."

Soon he was knocking on the door to his house. It took a minute for his mother to answer, and when she saw him, she enveloped him in a hug.

"Danny! What are you doing home!" she screeched happily.

Danny returned the hug. "I was in the area mom, and I had to deliver a package to the professor. Why are you so shocked? I've only been gone one day."

His mother chuckled. "I'm just so happy to see you. Come in and have some food."

And so he was treated to his mother's Roast beef- his mother's delicious roast beef. He put some of it out for Charmander and watched it eat happily. Yeas, he was spoiling his Pokémon.

"So how was your day?" his mother asked.

Danny was extremely uncomfortable with the question. If he told the truth, his mother would be scared and angry. If he lied, his mother would be scared, angry, and hurt. There was only one option.

"Well, mom…" and he told her about going to Viridian city, about getting the package from Mr. Morrison, about coming back, and about Team Rocket. His mother cried when he told her about the Team Rocket grunt so close to her home. She hated them, with good reason…

"…I'm sorry mom, but I couldn't leave professor Oak in that mess," Danny finished.

His mother was still crying. "DON"T YOU UNDERSTAND! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!" she screamed. She looked at Danny desperately. "Promise me Danny, whatever you do, don't mess with them. Please…"

"Mom, I can't just stay silent. If Team Rocket is threatening people, I have an obligation to help," Danny reasoned.

"Please, Danny…" she begged.

"I won't go looking for trouble, mom. But if I cross paths with them, then I'll do what I have to…" Danny trailed off. This was going to take a while.

An hour later he was walking back to Oak's lab. His mother finally calmed down. She was understandably unhappy with his encountering Team Rocket. But, in the end, he'd won. It was very awkward to depart after that argument. But he knew he needed to do it. He and Team Rocket were likely to cross paths again, and when they did… he couldn't just standby. And now he was walking back to Oak's lab for whatever the professor needed.

He arrived back in the lab, and upon walking through the door, was tackled by all of the Pokémon he'd left behind earlier. After a few hugs and words of greeting he headed back to the professor's office; Pokémon in tow. When he got to the office, he noticed the door was closed, as it usually was. Danny knocked once, and was told to enter.

The professor was sitting behind his wooden desk, and he gestured for Danny to take a seat.

Danny broke the silence. "So what can I do for you, professor?"

Oak cleared his throat and looked nervous. "I've noticed, Danny as the years went by, that you have a gift with Pokémon. Like the way you won those hostile Pokémon over this afternoon. Or the time we were attacked by that pride of Fearow. Or when the angry Gyarados attacked the town and you managed to calm it down. It is very unusual to find someone who can connect with Pokémon on that level." He was silent for a second. "The average trainer can only really connect with four Pokémon over the course of their life. Six was considered to be the maximum. However, the way you act, I think it could only be beneficial if you were allowed to carry more than six. That isn't to say you can battle with more than six; league rules state that you can't use more than six Pokémon in a battle. But carrying them, and training with them- I think it would a lot of good. So here," he handed Danny a piece of paper, "That document allows you to travel with twelve Pokémon at a time. And that brings me to the second part of my request," he took a breath. "The Pokémon you managed to calm down today; they will listen to you and follow you- but not me. You have earned their loyalty, and I haven't. Normally I would keep them and raise them and wait for a trainer to come along. But those Pokémon won't accept that. And I can't do it. So, even though this will give me a big headache from my grandson, I want you to take those Pokémon with you." Danny looked shocked. The professor was letting him walk out with all of those powerful Pokémon? The professor saw his look. "They may be powerful, but they've been damaged. Staying here won't heal them. Going with you might. That is a chance I am willing to take. Please take them."

Danny thought for a moment. "I will take them if they want me to."

He got up and walked out of Oak's office and into the main part of the lab. He found the Pokémon waiting anxiously for him. He knelt down to meet them at eye level. "I am going to try and beat all of the gyms of the Kanto region. Do you guys want to come with me?" He whispered.

The response was immediate. He was tackled to the ground for the second time by Pokémon hugging their new trainer. "All right, all right, I get it; you want to come with me,' he laughed. The Pokémon nodded. He gestured to the pokéballs. They caught the gesture and reluctantly walked over to their pokéballs. He returned them to their pokéballs and clipped the balls to his belt. He walked back to the professor's office.

"They wanted to come with me, professor," he said gesturing to the pokéballs. "Has Gary left already?" He nodded. "Well he's going to get a big lead, then. Before I leave Pallet town, I want to do some more training with all my Pokémon. So I'll be here for a few more days. But I've had a long day, and I'm tired, so I'm going home and getting some sleep."

An hour later and he was in bed after a long day. He'd bonded with Charmander, gotten a pokedex and some pokéballs, defeated a team rocket grunt, gained six new Pokémon, and decided to stay in Pallet and do some training. It was a great, but exhausting day. It was just a typical day in the life of a Pokémon trainer.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: I don't own Pokémon. It seems that my story has generated some interest. However, I will reiterate that I'm unsure whether I'm writing Pokémon right. In other words… is this how we do it? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? (Couldn't resist). Anyway, this will be my last chapter of this until the middle of January, where I decide to either take this story down and retool it, or continue on posting. For all those who've read; thanks. For all those who've reviewed (all one of you, to this point) thank you very much; your opinions are the deciding factor for whether this story lives, or dies (and eventually comes back to like in a Frankensteinian fashion).

Chapter Three: Training Daze

"All right guys. So what moves do you already know?" Danny was standing in the middle of a clearing off the road between Pallet town and Viridian City. He had looked high and low for a spot to train, and after an hour of searching, finally found this place. It was a section of flat grassland with exquisite lush grass separated from the main road by thick woods. Danny had released all his Pokémon so he could begin training.

At his question, all of the Pokémon exchanged looks. Danny caught it. "Did Team Rocket force you all to train?" he asked gently. The Pokémon looked at him in astonishment. "I know what kinds of things they probably did to make you stronger; injections, cruel training exercises, and a special diet. I'm sorry for what happened to you. But we can't dwell on that, as much as you'd probably like to. We need to train. There's a good chance that we will cross paths with Team Rocket in our travels. We can't let the same thing happen to any other Pokémon."

He finished his impassioned speech to find the Pokémon looked ready. He began testing them one by one to see what moves each Pokémon knew, what skills they had, and how well they could use their moves. Bulbasaur was up first, and after a half-an-hour later, Danny could confidently say that the Bulbasaur was extremely fast, and could attack and defend very well. He knew tackle, growl, leech seed, vine whip, poisonpowder, sleeppowder, and take down, like any Bulbasuar Danny had ever seen. But he also knew grasswhistle, ingrain, power whip, sludge, petal dance, nature power, light screen, magical leaf, and leaf storm. The Bulbasuar's lineage couldn't have included so many various Pokémon; it looked like Team Rocket had been busy.

He began testing Squirtle and he saw the same thing. It had good speed and could attack and defend well. It knew many typical Squirtle moves: tackle, tail whip, bubble, withdraw, water gun, and bite. She also had many moves in its repertoire that Squirtle generally were able to use due to genetics; aqua jet, aqua ring, mist, mirror coat, muddy water, water spout, refresh, and yawn.

Next up was the Growlithe. He had similar abilities to Squirtle and Bulbasaur. Danny saw that Growlithe could use bite, roar, ember, leer, odor sleuth, and flame wheel. And it had a large collection of moves Team Rocket had drilled into him: body slam, crunch, double-edge, fire spin, morning sun, howl, thrash, heat wave, and flare blitz.

The same was true with Pichu. He was extremely strong for a Pichu. And it had thundershock, tail whip, thunder wave, and charm. But it also knew a number of moves it shouldn't have: charge, doubleslap, thunderpunch, and volt tackle. A Pichu that knew how to use volt tackle, and could use it this well, were the Pichu Elite Four trainers and gym leaders would raise for their teams. It disturbed Danny how much pain and suffering these Pokémon had gone through to learn the moves that would soon serve him well.

Abra was the next up; Danny wanted to see Dratini's abilities last. She could use teleport, and it was extremely strong at performing psychic attacks. It knew the three elemental punches- fire, ice, and thunder- guard swap, and barrier. And apparently Team Rocket had used a few technical machines to boost it, because it could also use calm mind, toxic, shadow ball, and focus punch.

And finally came Dratini. Danny expected the most out of this Pokémon; he figured a rare Pokémon like this would have really been put through its paces. And he wasn't wrong; Dratini's attacks were extremely powerful- the strongest he'd seen all morning. He could use wrap, leer, thunder wave, twister, dragon rage, slam, and agility. As for hereditary moves; it could use dragonbreath, dragon dance, dragon rush, extremespeed, light screen, mist, supersonic. And with technical machine training it could use water pulse, blizzard, ice beam, iron tail, dragon pulse, and shockwave.

All in all, it was a set of very powerful Pokémon. They were powerful because of Team Rocket's treatment; it was very perverse. "I know you guys know a lot of powerful moves, and you are very powerful yourselves, but you shouldn't be. We're going to train, and get even stronger, and we're going to do it the right way. We don't have to take cheap shortcuts that sacrifice your happiness and comfort for power. So let's begin."

Charmander needed the most training out of all of his Pokémon. So Danny set up, using equipment he'd borrowed from the professor, a basic training course he'd seen Oak use thousands of times, with obstacles, and a changing environment that would require Charmander to think on its feet and adapt. He also got all of his other Pokémon started on basic training exercises, like putting a lightning rod for Pichu to channel its electric energy into that would record its strength. Except Dratini; he had a special job for him. After he set all his Pokémon to work, he put Dratini it its pokéball and went wondering around the surrounding forest looking for Pokémon.

He figured Dratini was strong enough that basic training wouldn't be as much of a benefit as being in an actual battle. And he still had the five free pokéballs the professor had given him to fill. After a few minutes of walking, he stumbled on a wild Pidgey.

He sent out his Dratini. He had it use ice beam to hopefully freeze the Pidgey. It dodged and pecked Dratini, who shook the attack off. This time Fanny had Dratini use thunder wave. It paralyzed Pidgey and slowed it to a crawl. Another ice beam and the Pidgey was ready to be caught. Danny threw the red and white pokéball and the Pidgey was absorbed into it. One shake… two shakes… three shakes… It was caught! He'd caught his first Pokémon!

He'd finally caught his first Pokémon. Any Pokémon he'd battled with or used had been caught and trained beforehand. Now, he had the opportunity to put everything Oak had taught him into practice. He picked up the pokéball and tucked it onto his belt. Half an hour later, he'd caught a Rattata and a Spearow.

He arrived back at his training camp to see all his Pokémon hard at work. Once they noticed him, they all stopped training and clambered over top greet him. Danny took out several treats and gave them to the Pokémon, who ate them happily.

He quickly tested his new Pokémon's abilities. The Pidgey and the Spearow were above average in terms of attack, speed, and defense. The Rattata however, was below average. The Pidgey knew tackle, sand-attack, gust, and steel wing. He was a very versatile Pokémon with lots of upside. The Spearow knew peck, growl, leer, fury attack, quick attack, uproar, and sky attack. She really was quite powerful. But the Rattata only knew tackle, tail whip, and quick attack. She would have a lot of work to do. He was going to do a lot of training with his Pokémon this week.

A week later and his Pokémon's hard work had really paid dividends. His Charmander had really gotten more powerful. It had picked up several tricks from his other Pokémon, and had become faster and stronger. Charmander now knew how to use metal claw and flare blitz any time. He also could use smokescreen, dragon rage, bite, crunch, dragon rush, and rock slide.

The other six Pokémon he'd freed had mostly fine-tuned their attacks, though some still learned new moves, like Squirtle could now use water pulse and brine, or Pichu which could now use shock wave, charge beam, thunderbolt, rain dance (from an old TM Danny had), return, iron tail, and thunder. Pichu had really improved under Danny's care- it was faster, stronger, knew more attacks, and happier.

As for the three Pokémon he'd caught- they were all doing better. Rattata could now use focus energy, bite, façade, fury swipes, and screech. Pidgey had learned whirlwind, double team, aerial ace, and rest. Spearow could now use pursuit, aerial ace, protect, and steel wing. And all three were faster and stronger.

His Pokémon were advanced enough that Danny was considering packing up camp and starting to compete at gyms. He knew it would really hurt his mother though. But he had to do it sometime.

"Professor, I need your advice." Danny was in the lab after he finished training for the day. He'd thought about the problem of him going away- he needed help. The professor had been pleased with all the data Danny had just given him. He figured this was the perfect time to ask. Oak turned to face Danny. "I'm having trouble figuring out how to tell my mother I'm leaving home and going to challenge gyms. Can you give me any advice how to tell her?"

Oak sighed. "Danny, you need to realize that it will always be hard on her that her son is leaving home. That said, a friend of mine, Michael Birch, a professor in the Hoenn region, will be arriving tomorrow. I'll introduce him to your mother; I believe they'll get along famously. And that should solve your problem; with her mind on Birch, it won't be on you."

Danny smiled. This was perfect; if he told his mother he was leaving, then Oak and Birch could comfort her. The only problem was telling his mother…

Danny took a breath. It was right after dinner. This was it. "Mom." She turned her attention to him. Blue eyes met brown. "Tomorrow, I'm going to leave Pallet town and start on my Pokémon journey. After all the training my Pokémon have done; I think we're ready." Silence, stunned silence. His mother was looking at him open mouthed. Danny ran up and hugged her; she looked ready to faint.

"Are you sure, Danny?" she whispered. He could only nod. She looked at him steadily. "I won't cry, Danny. After all you've done for me, I can't. I can only wish you luck and tell you I love you."

Danny slept restlessly that night. He could only toss and turn when thinking about the decision he'd made. In the morning he ate a quick breakfast, knowing he'd lose his resolution at the slightest distraction. Finally, Pokémon clipped to his belt, brown jacket over his shoulders, it came time for Danny to leave. His mother wrapped him in a hug. "Goodbye." She hugged him tighter. "Take care Danny. I know you can be a Pokémon master if you work hard." The hug ended and Danny felt absence; the absence of home. He turned and walked out the front door, feeling lonelier by the minute. He made it to the edge of the woods. This was it. He turned back and looked at his home. He knew what he had to do. Facing forwards again, he stepped onto the road to Viridian and began walking.

He arrived in Viridian city to find that it was almost exactly the same as the last time he'd been here. His first stop was the Pokémon center, to fully heal his Pokémon. Nurse Joy tried to make him send one to Oak before Danny finally whipped out his permit. After he showed her it, she began treating them. While they were being looked at, Danny went to the Pokémon center in town. He had a lot of money saved up, and he needed a few special medicines just in case, some more pokéballs, and some food.

An hour later, all Pokémon were firmly in hand after the nurse Joy finished healing them. He walked over to the gym in town, ready for battle… only to find a handwritten note on the door that the gym was closed. Danny could only smack himself on the head; this was what he rushed to Viridian for…

"Hey mister!" a young kid ran up to him. "If you're looking to challenge a gym, well, the leader isn't in. Most people have just gone on to Pewter city and decided to come back later." Danny politely thanked the kid.

Seeing as he was here in Viridian anyway, he decided to take the road to the Elite Four headquarters. It wasn't like he had anything better to do all day…

"Hey, loser," great, it was Gary. And he was having such a pleasant day too…

"Hello Gary. How's your journey been going?" Danny was trying to be polite.

Gary ignored the courtesy. "Victory Road is up ahead and they won't let anyone through without eight badges. So since I'm here anyway, how 'bout a battle."

Danny looked at him curiously. "You've actually been in Viridian City a full week? I would have thought you'd be in Cerulean city."

Gary reddened and grabbed a pokéball. "Go pidgey." Out of the pokéball emerged a clone of Danny's Pidgey; a small, plump, brown bird with a light brown underbelly and wing tips.

"I'll match your Pidgey against my Pidgey," declared Danny as he too released a Pidgey. In comparison, his looked slightly smaller.

"Alright, I'll start. Pidgey, use gust," shouted Gary. Pidgey took flight and began channeling wind to be hurled at Danny's Pidgey.

"Dodge and use Steel Wing Pidgey," countered Danny.

"Steel what?" shouted Gary as Danny's Pidgey dodged the attack by flying straight up in the air. She turned and her wings glowed yellow as she charged straight at Gary's Pokémon. The wings collided and Gary's Pidgey plummeted to the ground. It was knocked out. Gary stared open mouthed.

"Going to send out another Pokémon, Gary?" asked Danny calmly.

Gary finally snapped out of his daze and returned Pidgey before sending out Squirtle. Danny returned Pidgey. "I'll send out another Pokémon; you did a great job Pidgey. Go Pichu." Danny's small golden mouse, with black highlighting sections of its body, emerged.

"Where the hell did you catch a Pichu?" shouted Gary. Danny looked at him blankly. Gary turned his attention back to the battle. "All right Squirtle, use water gun."

His blue turtle shot a ray of water from its mouth. "Dodge and use shock wave." Pichu was able to scramble out of the way before returning fire with a shock wave. It hit Squirtle hard, but the turtle was still standing, barely.

"Use bubble, Squirtle," shouted Gary.

"Dodge and use shock wave again," called Danny. Yet again, his Pichu dodged and returned fire with a shock wave. Squirtle was down for the count.

Danny returned Pichu. "You were wonderful, Pichu." He turned to Gary. "Good battle."

Gary snarled and walked off. Danny sighed; Gary thought he was coming to challenge the Elite Four? He was just going to try and catch a Mankey. He knew from travels with the professor wild Mankey congregated along this route. An hour later, he had finally succeeded in catching a new Mankey; it had led him on quite a chase. He was now the proud owner of a Mankey that knew covet, scratch, low kick, leer, focus energy, fury swipes, and reversal.

He was making good progress in his search for Pokémon. He had recorded Charmander, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Abra, Pichu, Dratini, Pidgey, Spearow, Rattata, and Mankey into the pokedex. They all evolved, some of the more than once, meaning a lot of pokedex entries filled.

Danny decided to stay the night in Viridian city. He wanted to do some training with Mankey seeing as the pewter city gym was on the horizon, so he found a clearing on the outskirts of town and set up camp there. A fighting top would be great in that Gym.

There was a lot of resistance from Mankey. He did not particularly like taking orders from a trainer. But Danny was willing to be patient. He'd set up a few training exercises in the forest; a punching bag, and a practice dummy among them. And he was working the Mankey hard. As time went on and they trained longer, then Mankey stopped holding back and resisting. He did want to get stronger. So he did; he learned karate chop, seismic toss, and counter. And after a long brutal training session that was eight hours long, Danny finally called it a day.

"I know you're not happy about taking orders now, Mankey. I just wanted to tell you that you did great." He patted the Mankey on the shoulder of its all-white body, and was surprised that it didn't hit him back- it had tried to the first time Danny had touched him. Mankey looked grudgingly happy about the praise.

"All right guys," he turned to the other Pokémon who'd been training while he worked with Mankey, "let's turn in. Tomorrow we're headed for Pewter city, and that means a long journey, and possibly a gym battle if we get there in time. So I'll return you and we'll get some sleep."

He returned all the Pokémon to their balls and walked over to the Pokémon center. He walked in and up to the Nurse Joy on duty. "Hey, Nurse Joy, can you heal my Pokémon?" She took them and half-an-hour later they were all fine. As Danny took them back, he asked, "Do you have a room for the night?" He was directed up the stairs and a few doors down. He followed her directions and found a plain room he could crash in for the night. Within fifteen minutes, he was sleeping soundly in bed, tired from the day's events.

Danny set out right after a light breakfast the next morning. He had slept well. Before he left, he let all of his Pokémon out to give them breakfast. It was a special mix that was well liked by many Pokémon and made them stronger. After his Pokémon finished eating, they did like the food, Danny left. From a map he'd bought, Viridian forest was big and would probably take several hours to walk through.

He'd been walking for about an hour when he heard someone calling him over. He turned and saw a boy about his age with a net in hand walking over. "Did you hear me? I challenge you to a Pokémon battle."

Danny knew the rules. "How many Pokémon do you have?" he asked.

"Two," the boy replied proudly.

"Alright, let's have a two on two match," said Danny as he send out his Spearow; a brown bird with a pink underbelly and wing tips.

The boy gulped and sent out a bug Pokémon; Weedle. It was a small orange bug that had pink spots all over and a white horn.

"Weedle use poison sting," he called. Weedle opened its mouth and began firing little purple poison projectiles.

"Use protect, Spearow." Spearow created a square wall to stop the attack from hitting him. The poison attack evaporated helplessly on the wall.

"Weedle, use string shot," his opponent cried. Weedle switched to shooting webbing out of its mouth.

"Spearow, dodge and use aerial ace," Danny called. Spearow evaded the ray of webbing and flew at Weedle. It was gaining speed and momentum, and finally, it collided with Weedle, knocking it out.

The boy was distraught at the site of his bruised and beaten Weedle. He wordlessly returned it and sent out a Caterpie- a mostly green insect with a white underbelly.

"Caterpie, tackle Spearow," he called desperately. The Caterpie propelled itself towards Spearow.

"Dodge and end this with sky attack," Spearow moved out of the way and then flew straight up in the air. It turned sharply and headed for the ground while cloaking itself in a white light. She flew right at Caterpie, there was a crash, and it was knocked out; Danny had won.

He recalled his Spearow and walked over to the distraught boy. "If you train a bit, I think you'll make a good opponent. The real problem during that match was that I used a bird Pokémon, and you used bugs. My bird could fly and attack from the air, while your insects had no mobility. But if you train them a bit, they will become Beedrill and Butterfree, and that won't be an issue." Losing the match still stung, but the boy looked much happier.

"Thanks, I've got to get my Pokémon healed. See you around," he called as he walked off towards Viridian city.

Danny smiled as his opponent walked off. He needed to get a Weedle and a Caterpie for the exact reason he just told the boy. If he evolved them fully, then that was more data Oak would have.

As Danny progressed through the forest, he found more bug trainings who challenged him to battles. Danny carried between using Pidgey, Spearow, and Charmander to defeat them. Along the way, he also came across a wild Weedle and a wild Caterpie, both which he caught. He had been walking for hours, and still the end of the forest wasn't in sight. He was considering stopping and making camp; he was getting hungry. No, he finally decided, he was going to push through to Pewter city. Finally, after another few hours of walking while the sun set next to him, he reached the end of the forest.

A little more walking and he finally arrived in Pewter city. It was dark, so Danny decided to shelve his plans to challenge the gym today. Instead, maybe he'd do some work with Weedle and Caterpie. He walked over to the Pewter City Pokémon center and left all his Pokémon but those two under Nurse Joy's care.

He found a safe clearing a little outside of the city to work with his two new Pokémon. Both Weedle and Caterpie knew string shot, though they differed on their other attacks. With the Weedle; he knew poison sting. Caterpie; she knew tackle. Really, Danny had no recourse but to level both of them up. So he took them into the forest, and he had them battle wild Pokémon for a few hours. Then, his Weedle started glowing white. It began growing and a cone-shaped cocoon began to envelop its body. It grew out and attached itself to a tree. It was now a Kakuna. Another battle for Caterpie and it too began glowing white and morphing shape into a green cocoon/chrysalis. And then, in her new form, she used string shot to attach to a tree. It was now a Metapod. Danny left both Pokémon there after giving them some special nutritional food that would speed up their growth. It would only be a day or two before he had a Beedrill and a Butterfree.

Satisfied with the days training, Danny returned to Pewter City. He arrived at the Pokémon center near midnight and got a room. His Pokémon were all healed, so he took them back and headed up to his room. Fifteen minutes later he clicked the lights off and went to sleep for the night.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: I would like to thank the fanfic readers who've stuck by me and offered good suggestions and critiques I will try to implement in the near future: ERX06001, A Northern Soul, noshadowone, and Crusifikz70. I still can't decide if I'm doing this right or night, so I decided to write and post another chapter and see what the feedback I got said. So here's another chapter, please enjoy. I don't own Pokémon.

Chapter Four: Rocking Brock

Danny gently stretched as he woke up after a good night's sleep. Before doing anything else, he stumbled over to "The Book" which he'd left in his bag. If there was one thing Oak had slammed into his head in all the time he'd worked for it: it was to always carry something like "The Book" around.

"The Book" was a simple notebook that was used to store any/all Pokémon data. This included things like discrepancies in evolution, noticeable Pokémon anomalies, and the known move list. That was just the Pokémon research side. The other side of the notebook, was the Pokémon battle journal. In this part were listed details like how well his Pokémon could use moves, what types of moves they could use, and what types of moves and Pokémon his own seemed to be especially disadvantaged against. Many people would probably just utilize the pokedex as their data recorder, but Oak had impressed upon him the importance of separating things for convenience.

Now, he was looking through his journal, trying to figure out which three Pokémon to use for the day's gym battle. Unless the town leader had drastically altered his rules, from what Danny remembered, this was a series of three on three matches. He'd looked through his Pokémon, and narrowed it down to five choices: Dratini, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Mankey, and Abra. He wasn't sure which to choose.

On the one hand, as a rule of thumb, gym leaders always appeared to a specific type of Pokémon: their favorite type. Pewter city was a well-known rock type gym, and rock types were weak to fighting type, water type, steel type, ground type and grass type Pokémon moves. So, the obvious choices were Mankey, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle.

On the other hand though, Brock, the new town gym leader obviously didn't become gym leader because every ten-year old starting out with a Squirtle or a Bulbasaur had beaten him. Water and grass type moves were the obvious attacks Brock would have trained his Pokémon long and hard to weather against. Fighting type attacks were also something he'd probably worked on, though it would have been a less pressing concern than those other two types easily beating his Pokémon. So perhaps loading up his roster with Pokémon Brock had already trained against wasn't the smart move.

Danny sighed, and decided to go get some breakfast before he made his decision. He almost walked out of the door before he remembered he was in his night clothes. Twenty minutes later, he'd showered and changed, and now was content to walk out of his room without feeling like a fool. He shook his head; sometimes, he got so caught up in things he stopped paying attention to the world around him.

He made it through one of the awful Pokémon center breakfasts. He'd been out with Oak enough to know that Pokémon center food was rather like hospital food: made to encourage you to leave as soon as possible. There coffee was weaker than a Wyanut, they had two varieties of cereal, both bland, some sad, near-death pieces they had a lot of gall to call fruit, and that was about it for breakfast. A Pokémon center breakfast was generally all the encouragement a trainer needed to move on to either another restaurant, or another town.

After he finished his wannabe breakfast, he walked back to his room. Once there, he resumed trying to pick the Pokémon team he'd use today. He had an important decision to make about which Pokémon he was going to face off against Brock with.

Over breakfast, he'd designed he wouldn't go all in with types rock was weak against. He still had no idea which Pokémon Brock used, and there were a few rock types, like Shuckle, that had a secondary type that wasn't ground. If Brock used traditional rock Pokémon, like Geodude or Rhydon, then he would have made damn sure that a Squirtle or a Bulbasaur, Pokémon that had a doubled advantage against his own, would not take him down in seconds. Actually… Onix was a rock/ground type Pokémon, and if Brock used its evolutionary form, Steelix, then…. No, wait, no Brock was a rock type trainer, and Steelix was a steel/ground Pokémon.

Okay, so his choices for today were Dratini, Abra, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Mankey. This left him with yet another decision. On the one hand, the Pokémon he'd recovered from Team Rocket were generally stronger than his regular Pokémon; excluding Charmander. On the other hand, this was their first time in a regular battle, and there was a lot of potential for instability in the heat of the fight. Team Rocket had obvious torture-trained these Pokémon long and hard. Would they properly respond to his commands?

In the end, he finally decided on Squirtle, Abra, and Mankey as his Pokémon for the days match. Squirtle was an obvious choice, with a significant amount of strength over the rock/ground type Brock would probably use. Mankey, as a fighting Pokémon, would have an edge over any type of rock Pokémon Brock used, even if it was probably weaker than all the other Pokémon he had to choose from. Abra was a wildcard. Rock Pokémon were notorious for their defensive abilities, but Abra could slip past those typical defenses with its psychic attacks. His decision made, he deposited his other Pokémon at the center, and walked over to the Pewter city gym for a showdown with Brock.

"Are you Brock?" Danny asked bluntly as he walked into the Pewter gym and saw a tall, brown haired, tan skinned man standing on a stone pedestal. He briefly looked around the gym, to see if there was anyone else was there who might qualify as the gym leader. Seeing no one else, he turned back to the man standing on the stone pedestal. By process of elimination, this had to be Brock, or else the gym leader wasn't in today.

"I am Brock," he confirmed. "I assume you're here for a gym battle?"

"That I am," Danny confirmed. "But from what I remember, there are generally other trainers employed by the town gyms that weeded out weaker trainers." Danny began looking around to see who else he had to beat before he got a shot at Brock.

Brock sighed. "The Pokémon league is doing a review of that policy. A faction has emerged within the League that believes a gym leader isn't a gym leader unless he beats any challenger that he comes across. So for the next two weeks or so, starting from a few days back, anyone who comes to the gym only has to beat me for their Boulder Badge. I don't really care that much, I mean I still haven't lost yet, but some of the other gym leaders, like Sabrina and Koga, are really unhappy about that." He cleared his throat. "So, seeing as you're here for a gym battle, can I have your name?"

"Knight. Daniel Knight," Danny responded as he walked over to the gym leader battle arena. Every gym had one of these types of main arenas for when the gym leader got challenged. Each arena was normally decorated in a style representative of the gym in question. For instance, this gym arena was littered with rocks and stone walls and floors.

Brock paused for a second. "Have I met you before?" he asked curiously.

Danny shrugged. "We might have crossed paths once while I was on assignment for the old perfessor*. So, I'm guessing this will be a three on three match?"

Brock nodded. "Three on three, and, as always, according to official league rules. Ready?" Danny nodded resolutely. "Go, Geodude!" He threw out his pokéball, and from the light that issued forth, emerged the familiar grey boulder with bulky, muscular arms; a favorite of any rock type trainer.

Danny nodded, and threw out his first pokéball. "Squirtle!" He figured he should lead off with a Pokémon Brock had seen numerous times before; maybe it would lull him into a false sense of security. As his blue turtle emerged, Brock's eyebrows slightly rose, and he looked to be in danger of actually visibly opening his eyes. His disappointment was clear from Brock's body language.

The League referee who waited around just in case a challenger came around to the gym waved his flag and shouted "Begin!"

"Geodude, use rock throw!" Geodude picked up one of the nearby rocked and hurled it at Squirtle, who quickly jumped out the line of fire.

"Use water gun!" Danny shouted, and the jet of water he'd grown so used to seeing issued forth from Squirtle's mouth and clip Geodude in one of its arms. Geodude was in noticeable pain after that minor attack. After one round, it was already clear which Pokémon was the stronger one.

Brock must have realized that as well. "Geodude, use self-destruct!" At the end of his shout, Geodude exploded in a burst of fire that also downed Squirtle.

Danny watched on impassively. Once Brock decided to make the one for one trade, there was nothing he could do to help his Squirtle aside from taking it to the Pokémon center after the battle. He'd suspected Brock had something of this variety hidden up his sleeve. How else was he a gym leader if he couldn't end a fight with any rookie trainer who had a Squirtle or Bulbasaur with him in a default win? Once the dust cleared, which confirmed that both Squirtle and Geodude had been knocked out, the referee declared a draw, and they both returned their Pokémon. "Go, Mankey!"

Brock withdrew another pokéball from his belt and through it out onto the arena floor. From the pokéball emerged the evolution of Geodude, Graveler. To Danny, it just seemed like Brock had sent out a bigger boulder with more arms, and hoped that did the trick. On the other hand, if Brock had taught his Graveler self-destruct as well, then he either relying on the idea that Danny's third Pokémon probably wasn't in the same class as the other two in terms of power, or that his own third Pokémon was more than a match for whatever Danny had left after the dust cleared.

Sure enough, rather than deal with another uphill battle that he seemed likely to lose, Brock once again shouted for self-destruct. And once again, in rather cheap fashion, Danny had lost another Pokémon.

Danny mentally congratulated Brock as he returned Mankey to its pokéball. The gym leader had found a way to neutralize two powerful opposing Pokémon with more raw power and a type advantage, and now he had a better than average chance of winning. For all his Abra's psychic power, it really couldn't withstand many hits.

"Go, Onix!" shouted Brock as he sent out his third and final Pokémon. The gigantic snake made of rock emerged from the pokéball, and pointed the tip of its spiky head right at Danny as if to say "En garde!"

One look at the Onix, and Danny realized Brock's strategy truly was a master stroke. His last Pokémon did not have a type advantage against Onix, and was in fact a poor choice in the face of any type of direct physical assault that would certainly be in the Onix's repertoire. Even though his Abra did have the ability to slip past the rocky fortress that weathered most physical assaults, the battle was anyone's at this point.

"Go Abra!" shouted Danny as he sent out his final Pokémon and last chance. At least his Pokémon had a natural stoic look down pat despite the grim odds he faced.

The referee waved his flag to begin the last leg of the battle, and Brock shouted, "Onix, use Rock tomb!" Onix opened its mouth, and fired a blast of energy that morphed into a gigantic rock as it rocketed at Abra. Abra frantically teleported away from the oncoming stone projectile.

Danny hesitated for a split second. Focus punch, if it connected, might end the match right away. However, it would give Brock a chance to turn the tables on him once more, and anytime today that he'd counted on the variables swinging his way, they hadn't. "Abra, use Ice Punch!" Abra shot towards Onix with its fist balling, and white light encircling her clenched fist.

A second before they collided, Brock shouted, "Dig, Onix!" and his rock snake burrowed underground to dodge the blow. Abra stopped in her tracks, momentarily disoriented. Onix shot up from the ground with a BANG! And hit Abra almost head on. Abra fell to the ground with a thump. Brock began celebrating as the referee began raising his flag.

"THE WINNER IS-"

"Abra, use Shadow Ball!" shouted Danny, seeing what Brock and the referee had apparently missed, that Abra was not yet down for the count. Brock stopped celebrating, stunned that he'd made such a grievous error. He had no chance to alert Onix, who'd turned his back, to the impending danger. Seconds later, Abra's black ball of energy slammed into Onix, downing the snake like unlike how its dig attack had failed to completely defeat Abra. Onix roared, and crumbled to the floor as the ball of energy hit it right in its weak spot, by slipping past its coating of heavy armor. Brocks watched on, clearly stunned by defeat being snatched from the jaws of victory on his behalf.

The referee nervously cleared his throat. "As I was saying, THE WINNER IS DANIEL KNIGHT FROM PALLET TOWN!" He stopped and turned towards Danny. "You are from Pallet town, right?"

Danny nodded as he returned his injured Abra to its pokéball. If he hadn't just beaten Brock by the skin of his teeth, he'd be seriously annoyed with the referee right about now. He turned to face Brock, who still hadn't returned his defeated Onix to its ball, and who hadn't shown signs of snapping out of his stupor anytime soon.

"Brock!" Danny yelled mildly. "Brock!" he yelled again with more energy. "BROCK!" he screamed. Finally, the Pewter gym leader snapped out of his stupor and regained his senses.

"Ho-HOW!" he shouted and stuttered at the same time.

"You declared victory too soon," Danny replied. "Your distraction, instead of dealing a finishing blow, allowed me to eek out a victory."

Brock was grumbling to himself, obviously engaging in one of the self-flagellation sessions all Pokémon trainers were prone to after a big loss. He walked over without grace, poise, or humility, and roughly forced the Boulder Badge into Danny's hand, and walked away without stopping to congratulate him. Danny shrugged and took it for what it was.

He wasn't supposed to have won today, not with how sloppy his battling was. It was a once-in-a-million fluke that had enabled his victory. Brock wasn't likely to forget the circumstances of his loss... not anytime soon. Shrugging at the odd turn of events, Danny walked out of the Pewter city gym, intent on training his Pokémon like a man possessed so that he never had to rely on luck or a strange fluke to win another closely contested match.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: I really don't know what to make of the lack of response to last chapter. Once again, the danger senses are tingling that I'm focusing my talents (or lack thereof to some) in the wrong direction. So, I'll say this one more time- if I am not doing this write, please tell me. Really, I have a lot more response when I write Harry Potter fanfiction, so if this is not that good, interesting, whatever, please don't drag out it out- just, please, tell me. Here's another chapter, and I'll see what kind of response this gets. I don't own Pokémon.

Chapter Five: A Bitter Pill To Swallow

Danny silently cursed the horrid Pokémon center food as he ate dinner there that night. He had considered moving onwards towards Cerulean cit. However, considering how he'd done against Brock, he knew he wasn't ready. Plus, it wasn't like the food there, or in the wilderness, was going to be any better. At least the center had nutritious, if not delicious, food his Pokémon needed.

He was sitting quietly after he'd finished his "meal", trying to figure out what specific training his Pokémon needed, and how to give it to them. Of course, there were the basics- agility, strength, and stamina training, and others of a similar nature. But he needed to focus on resistance training- resistance to physical blows, or a type of attack. After all, Brock's Geodude had been able to continue after being hit with a water gun attack. But his Abra was nearly taken out by a single blow from his Onix. Yes, resistance training was definitely in the cards.

His attention was diverted from his strategizing by a disturbance that was taking place at the healing counter. He looked up to see Brock, probably getting his Pokémon healed, and also using it as an opportunity to hit on the Nurse Joy on duty. The red mark the Nurse's hand left on his face was a pretty clear indication of how successful his attempts had been. Turning away in defeat, Brock apparently spotted him.

A few paces later, and the apparently still-bitter Gym Leader was sitting across from him. "I want a rematch," he declared bluntly.

Danny raised an eyebrow. "I assume this is to assuage your wounded pride?" He saw Brock raise an eyebrow at his choice of words. "I once read through a dictionary," he said in response to the unasked question. He smiled inwardly at the memory of that day, when he'd kept his dictionary close at hand to edit a few of Oak's lab reports. It might have been dry reading, but two words came to mind as he smiled at the memory: good times. Good times…

"So the rematch will be tomorrow?" Brock asked, completely ignoring Danny's question.

"Why would you want a rematch tomorrow?" Danny asked. He saw Brock was getting annoyed. "I mean, to counter my first two Pokémon, you'll use Geodude and Graveler's self-destruct attacks, and then it will come down to one of my Pokémon vs. Onix- what's the point?" Wow, there's a vein, Danny thought after a glance at Brock's forehead.

"The point is that you shouldn't have won that!" Brock snarled back.

"That's true," Danny conceded. "But battling tomorrow won't really change anything. Here, I have an idea," he leaned forward. "How about you train for two weeks, and I train for two weeks, and then we have a rematch? This way, we both have a chance to improve and train our Pokémon, and it's a better way to compare our abilities as trainers."

Brock frowned, clearly considering the merits of his idea. "I suppose that's a better idea," he admitted finally. "Two weeks?" he confirmed.

"Two weeks," Danny nodded. "That will give us enough time to train, and then we'll see whose better." Brock nodded and walked off, determined to train like a maniac and win their rematch.

* * *

Danny had walked back out to the forest, intent on seeing if his Kakuna and Metapod had evolved. Once he'd retraced his steps, he arrived back at their tree to see both Pokémon still encased in their cocoons. He softly stroked the cocoons, trying to let his Pokémon know that he was there. And then he got to work setting up camp.

Once he'd put up a tent, gathered enough wood for a fire for later, and set up his mattress and the miniature bookshelf he kept with him at all times, he unclipped all of his pokéballs from his belt, and released his Pokémon. Upon being released, his Mankey and Squirtle drew closer to him with angry looks on their face. Danny grabbed them and pulled them into a hug.

"Listen, I know how that battle went," he whispered. "You both did great." His Mankey took the opportunity to punch him in the face. Thankfully, there was more affection than aggression behind his punch, so Danny barely felt it. Of course, in this case, "barely" still stung quite a bit. "You'll get a chance for a rematch quite soon, guys. For now, we have a lot of training to do." He let his Mankey go, and watched it wander off, before he turned to his still angry Squirtle.

He knew it was still angry because it had bitten into his arm, and that was much more painful than Mankey's punch. He pulled the Squirtle closer, despite its bite cutting deeper into his skin and causing him more and more pain every second. Yeah, he was definitely going to need some medicine after this. But what he needed to say was too important for him to do anything other than cry out in response.

"SQUIRTLE!" he finally shouted. His Squirtle stopped biting and glared at him. "What's wrong with you!" he whispered in a much lower voice; what he had to say was only for his and his Squirtle's ears. He looked down at his arm to see blood was starting to seep out of the bite wound.

Squirtle continued glaring at him angrily before huffing "Squirtle!"

Danny stared, still trying to figure out why his Pokémon was so hacked off. "So you lost… so what?' he replied, hoping that Squirtle's anger was from losing. Squirtle's attempting to bite his arm again indicated that this wasn't the right response.

Suddenly, it hit Danny why his Pokémon would be so angry. It wasn't really anger… it was fear- fear that Danny was about to give up on him because she'd lost. "It's all right, Squirtle. I will never lose faith in you. Don't worry," he attempted to soothe. The mouthful of water Squirtle shot at him indicated the message wasn't getting through.

Danny held up his hands as a gesture of surrender after ducking. "Look- CALM DOWN!" He took a tentative step towards his Squirtle. "I'm not going to abandon you- I'm not going to hurt you! I promise!" Squirtle hadn't attacked him again, yet. "What can I do to prove that I'm not mad, or that I'm not even thinking of abandoning you?" he asked delicately.

Squirtle glared at him while crossing her arms. After a few tense moments, she sighed, "Squirtle?"

"I mean it, Squirtle, I really do- please believe me," he pleaded, hoping he'd finally succeeded in reassuring his Pokémon.

Squirtle ran forward and hugged his leg. Danny patted her with his uninjured arm. "Relax Squirtle, I won't abandon you," he whispered. He withdrew his hand from his Squirtle and began feeling around for his first aid kit.

"Feeling better?" he asked, as he began wiping off the blood and bandaging his wound. After a few moments, Squirtle nodded. "So, are you ready for another round of training to prevent us from ever losing again?" Squirtle nodded and bounded off eagerly to alert his other Pokémon.

* * *

Two weeks of training went by in a blur for Danny as he readied himself for his rematch with Brock. His Pokémon, excepting his new Beedrill and Butterfree- who'd evolved after four days from Kakuna and Metapod- hadn't had time to learn any new moves. Instead, they'd spent all hours of the day training. The first thing Danny had worked on with them was agility. He'd have one of his Pokémon, such as Charmander or Squirtle, use attacks like Water Gun and Dragon Rage, and run his Pokémon ragged dodging the attacks.

Then he worked on stamina and endurance training with some one on one matches between his Pokémon and then some strength training by having his Pokémon lift boulders and logs- though in Abra's case, he used his psychic powers so they got a workout. Then he'd done some resistance training, like having Charmander fight Squirtle and the healing him after their battle to help him resist water attacks. Then it was on to another round of strength and stamina training, and afterwards some more agility training. Then he'd moved on to accuracy sessions; trying to get his Pokémon with ranged but occasionally inaccurate attacks to hit targets, both immobile and eventually mobile as well. That was his segue into individual training sessions for his Pokémon.

For Mankey, these involved hand to hand combat. Not that Danny really knew much about that, of course. He just made sure to keep a first aid kit handy while Mankey took jabs at him. Of course, Mankey did occasionally like to make a point with his blows, especially when Danny was distracted or trying to keep an eye on how his other Pokémon were doing.

For Abra, that meant trying to strengthen its psychic powers. Of course, Danny really wasn't sure how to accomplish that, so he just had Abra teleport constantly, or levitate logs or rocks. What he really needed to give Abra was boost was a twisted spoon, but his odds of coming across that particular object before a trip to the Celadon City Department Store was pretty low, and even there he wasn't sure he could track one down for any price.

His Beedrill and Butterfree, meanwhile, had come along nicely. Beedrill could now use Fury Attack, Focus Energy, and Twineedle, all of which made it a potentially valuable against dark, grass, or psychic Pokémon. Now in its final form, it was much faster and stronger than Weedle or Metapod combined.

Butterfree, meanwhile, had picked up several status dealing moves. It now knew Confusion, PoisonPoweder, Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, and Gust. His Butterfree was an excellent choice when he needed to rely on finesse rather than direct attacks to win a battle.

All of his Pokémon had improved a lot after their two weeks of intense training. Realistically, it would not be enough to defeat some of the tougher gym leaders like Sabrina or Blaine, but for Brock, he was probably strong enough.

He began packing up, getting ready to head back to Pewter City. While he worked, his Pokémon frolicked in the forest, having a grand old time. He smiled as he rolled up his camp bed and took down the tent. He made sure that his camp fire was extinguished, and then he returned his Pokémon back to their balls.

The sun steadily rose as he walked towards Pewter City. When it was finally directly over his head and bearing down on him, he arrived in the city and headed for the Pokémon center. After his Pokémon had been given a thorough once-over, he left for the gym. Five minutes later, he was back in the gym, and there was Brock, sitting on his stone pedestal and looking quite confident. He signaled the referee as he got to his feet.

Danny and Brock took positions in the arena without saying a word to each other. "Three on three, and according to league rules," Brock declared in a bland tone of voice.

Danny nodded, and in one fluid motion, the referee brought down his flag and shouted, "Begin!"

"Go, Graveler!" shouted Brock as he let his pokéball loose and his Graveler emerged.

Danny stared at the Graveler neutrally for a moment, as if sizing it up, and then withdrew a pokéball and threw it into the center of the arena. "Bulbasaur," he declared quietly as his Pokémon stretched its legs in preparation for the battle.

"Bulbasaur, use vine whip," Danny ordered. Vines emerged from the plant bud on its back and headed towards Graveler, hitting it in the arms. Brock's Pokémon merely shrugged.

"Graveler, use Magnitude!" Graveler jumped up and slammed itself back onto the ground, creating a mini Earthquake. As the Earth rocked beneath it, Danny's Bulbasaur tried to use its vines to pull itself up from the Earthquake. Before it could finish though, the Magnitude attack caught it and sent it flying. Groaning, his Bulbasaur got to its feet.

"Magical Leaf!" Danny cried as his Bulbasaur summoned a squadron of boomerang shaped leaves and shot them at Graveler, who tried to duck to the floor only to be hit in the back by the leaves. Groaning, it got to its feet and used another magnitude without Brock even having to say a word. This time, his Bulbasaur used vine whip to lift itself up and evade the attack.

Seeing that both Pokémon were rather exhausted and battle-worn, Danny decided to move in for the kill. "Bulbasaur, use Take Down!" Bulbasaur began sprinting towards Graveler, and before it could react, his Bulbasaur leapt into it and forced it to the ground. When the dust settled, both Pokémon were down for the count.

Brock and Danny returned their respective Pokémon, and both withdrew another pokéball. "Go, Onix!" Brock shouted as his rock snake appeared once again.

"Mankey!" Danny shouted as his fighting puffball emerged and readied for battle. The referee waved his flag, and they were off.

"Onix, use sandstorm!" Brock shouted as his Onix released a sandstorm from its body. High velocity winds began whipping the gym's dust and dirt around, obscuring both trainers' view of the battle.

"Mankey, use Karate Chop," Danny shouted, hoping Mankey at least knew what he was doing.

"Onix, use Rock Tomb!" Brock ordered.

Two resounding bangs issued from within the whirlwind of dust, but neither Pokémon appeared to be down yet.

"Mankey- Low Kick," Danny called, hoping, that since Onix was a really heavy Pokémon, that this move would finish it.

"Onix, use Rock Throw," Brock shouted. This time, when the two blows connected, Mankey was catapulted out of the whirlwind of sand. The Whirlwind ceased as Onix reappeared as well, looking worse for wear, but still doing better than Danny's Mankey, who had fainted.

Danny returned his Mankey as the referee signaled in Brock's favor. He gripped his final pokéball, and sent out his Squirtle.

"Squirtle," he acknowledged simply. The referee waved his flag, and Danny shouted, "Use Water Gun,"

"Onix, dodge that attack and use defense curl!" Brock shouted, but his Onix was too slow and too weary to weather the Squirtle's assault.

Brock's Onix collapsed to the floor, defeated by Water Gun. Brock returned his Pokémon with a snarl, and sent out his last one. "Go, Golem!"

Danny cursed silently as Brock sent out his new, most powerful Pokémon- a damn boulder with arms and legs.

"Golem, use Earthquake," Golem jumped into the air, and its impact back into the ground created an Earthquake that knocked Squirtle off its feet and into a wall. Almost immediately, it was back on its feet.

"Squirtle, use Aqua Ring!" His Squirtle was surrounded by a cone of water as it rocketed right at Golem and hit the grey boulder head-on. Golem staggered back, but showed no signs of weakness or tiring.

"Golem, use Magnitude," Once again, the Golem hopped into the air and came down to create another seismic burst. Squirtle was knocked back into the wall once more, and though she was back on her feet seconds later, it was clear she couldn't stand another seismic hit from Brock's Golem. Danny was one move away from losing to Brock.

"Squirtle, use Muddy Water and give it everything you've got!" Danny shouted. A giant torrent of brown water enveloped Squirtle as she shot once more at Golem. Golem tried to dodge, but all it succeeded in doing was allowing the attack to hit its weak underbelly. It roared in pain as the water knocked it into a wall. It was quite clearly defeated.

Brock had his mouth opened in horror, as Danny was watching to make absolutely sure that Golem was unconscious. The referee raised his flag, "THE WINNER IS, ONCE AGAIN, DANIEL KNIGHT FROM PALLET TOWN!"

Danny returned his Squirtle as he walked towards Brock, who was staring, once again, in complete disbelief. It was so similar to the last time they'd battled that Danny was suddenly hit by a case of déjà vu.

"This time it wasn't a fluke," Danny pointed out brightly. He saw Brock's dark look. "Hey, don't be so down- you did pretty great! I mean, in two weeks, you evolved your Geodude in a Graveler and your Graveler into a Golem! That's pretty impressive Brock! And having Onix use Sandstorm so I didn't know how to counter properly- it was a stroke of genius! You have nothing to be ashamed of!"

Brock only stared at him as if he wasn't actually standing there. He grumbled and turned away. Danny shook his head at Brock's inability to let it go, and then realized that he wouldn't let it go either if he was in Brock's shoes.

Danny walked out of the Pewter city gym after having beaten Brock twice. Winning both times felt good, but he now realized his time could have been better spent by getting to Cerulean city. He set off to the path that would take him towards Mount Moon, only to be stopped in his tracks by someone shouting for him. He turned to see one of the professor's assistants.

"Hey Danny," Oak's excitable assistant shouted as he closed the distance. He thrust a package into Danny's hands. "The professor's sent that for you, and," he dug into his pocket and pulled out a milky white envelope, and passed it towards Danny. "That's from your mom. I got to go, I hope things are going well," the assistant shouted as he ran off, and Danny shook his head. He put the box in his bag so he could open it later, and turned over the letter. Yup, it was his, as his mother's signature on the envelope confirmed. Danny gently pried it open, and pulled out the letter. He was about to read it when he decided he should save it for later as well, and thrust it into his bag. He grabbed hold and walked off towards Mt. Moon.


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Still on the fence about this fic, as I've received next to no response. But I decided to throw out one more chapter and then go from there. I don't own Pokémon, and I hope you all enjoy.

Chapter Six: On The Other Side of The Mountain

"Excuse me! Is this the way to Cerulean City? I think I'm lost."

"Yes, you are lost because this is my little slice of paradise. Go back out of the grove, pass the shrubbery, turn left, and keep walking, and you'll eventually reach Cerulean. Oh, and it's nice to see you again Brock."

"YOU!" Brock shouted angrily, finally realizing it was the rookie trainer who'd beaten last month.

"Yup. Me." Danny thumbed his hat above his eyes so he could actually see Brock's glare. Brock hasn't changed at all in appearance: Same orange jacket, same khaki-brown pants, same haircut… and apparently, the same attitude.

"What are you doing here?" He asked indignantly.

"Training up for the Cerulean Gym. And for future challenges. Oh, and kicking back and relaxing." He gestured to his Charmander that was asleep on his stomach. "After a solid month of training, I figured they all deserved a day of rest before we go challenging the Cerulean Gym," Daniel yawned. "So like I said, go back the way you came from until you get to the shrubbery, then-"

"I heard you," Brock interrupted, annoyed. "You've been training with your Pokémon for an entire month?" He asked curiously.

"Not with all of them all the time. I've been traveling back and forth between here and Cerulean to get some work in with some of the new Pokémon I caught. But yeah, I set up camp here. It makes battling a lot easier down the stretch. And it was an absolute bitch to get through Mt. Moon, so I knew we needed to do some work," He grumbled. "Stupid nerds with their stupid fossil obsessions. And stupid Team Rocket." He cleared his throat. "So what are you doing here?"

"My dad took over the gym, and I decided it was time to leave home and go on my own journey!" He explained passionately. "So now here I am, off on my journey to-!"

"Wonderful for you. Well, I wish you the best of luck. I'm going to take a nap. Fare the well," Brock walked away from him shaking his head as Danny dozed off again. Smug bastard.

* * *

Misty. Her name was Misty. If that wasn't an indication as to the types of Pokémon she probably favored, he had no idea what was. So what could he expect? Magickarp. No. No. Never. But it was certainly an image that was amusing in his head. Well, maybe a Gyarados. Or possibly a Goldeen. Or maybe even a Seaking. Possible a Staryu? Well, maybe. Whatever it was, it was probably a pretty safe bet that it would be a water type. So where did that leave him?

Pikachu. It was no longer a Pichu; it had evolved halfway through his month of training. And dam was the thing fast. And powerful. Yes, definitely Pikachu. Also Bulbasaur, that might not be a bad idea. An electric type and a grass type, against what was likely to be a water type gym. However, as he'd already seen against Brock, it was good to actually assume that the worst case scenario could happen. Dragonair. That was his answer for who his number three should be. His Dratini, which had since evolved, was a good ringer just in case things went south against Misty. After all, electric types and grass types she'd probably trained against, but dragon types? Not likely. Yawning and stretching, Danny got up to pack and head over to Cerulean for a good night's sleep.

It had been a pretty crazy month. First, he'd read his mom's letter and found out everything she knew about his father. And where he was now. There were just some things in life that were better off unknown, and that was all he could say about that.

Then it was the march to Mt. Moon. Why did so many trainers congregate along the damn route? And all of them relative newies just starting out. Granted, he had caught some great Pokémon over there- Jigglypuff, that Magickarp he'd bought from that guy, and a male and female Nidoran- but still, it was such a war of attrition, making his way to Mt. Moon. Then he'd actually entered the mountain. Ugh.

Zubats galore. The damn pest swarmed him from the moment he stepped inside the pass through. He'd quickly caught one, for his pokedex, but they just kept coming and coming. Then there was Team Rocket, who'd once again turned a simple walk into a war of attrition. Though he'd also caught a few more Pokémon- the professor better be grateful for this: Geodude, Paras, and Clefairy. By the end of the pass, his Pokémon had been dog tired. And then he'd run into the crazy fossil guy.

The man had basically walked up to him and shouted about how the fossils were his. His he said! And then he challenged him to a battle. It was a clone thing, defeating him, because his Pokémon, mostly poison types like Koffing and Grimer, were exactly what his tired and worn out team didn't want to face. He'd manage to eek out a win with the help of his Abra, but it was a close thing. Finally, the guy had told him he could have one of the fossils he hadn't wanted anyway. But, unwilling to risk another battle, he'd selected one to appease the guy. The guy took the other one and walked off. Danny was about to walk off when he'd noticed another rock nearby that resembled the fossil ting he'd just picked up. Shrugging, he grabbed that one as well; he could sort it out later, and continued on his way. Boy was it a relief to see daylight once more.

After battling his way over to Cerulean city, he'd healed up, and decided to make camp on the path leading from Mt. Moon to Cerulean. He needed to administer some serious endurance training for his Pokémon before they faced another drain like that one. Well, that and some speed, strength, and reflexes training. And it never hurt to coordinate some new moves. Besides, he might be able to catch a few more Pokémon to fill up the Pokedex. He had caught two more actually, an Ekans and a Sandshrew. He'd only had a minimal amount of time to work with them, but he'd liked the versatility in battle they offered him.

Despite all his work, only a few of them had evolved. Granted, it was pretty cool that his Dratini had become a Dragonair, and Pichu became a Pikachu. Aside from that, the only other Pokémon that had evolved on his watch were the ones he'd evolved preciously, like Butterfree and Beedrill. Oh, and his Growlithe, which had become an Arcanine; how could he forget that one? It was actually a pretty funny story involving a fire stone, a Mr. Mime, two nutty schoolkids, and a bottle of repel. But he perhaps he should save that story for another time…

But yeah, he was ready for this. Totally pumped. Granted, next time he saw Gary he was probably going to get an earful about being so slow, but sacrifices had to be made. And Gary was a moron, so who cared?

"Okay, let's put the tent away, and we can get going," He told his Pokémon. Hmm, they beat him to it. They must have gotten pretty bored with his little relaxing vacation. Oh well. He'd make it up to them. "All right guys. We're finally going to take on the Cerulean Gym." A collective cheer; yep, boredom had set in amongst the ranks. "Pikachu, Dragonair, and Bulbasaur are going to my three for that battle." Some disappointed moans and growls. "However, afterwards, we'll head over to see Bill, and we're sure to run into some more battles that way. So aside from Dragonair, Pikachu, and Bulbasaur, I'm also going to take along Squirtle, Arcanine, Charmander, Abra, Pidgey, Beedrill, Butterfree, Mankey, and Sandshrew. Everyone else will get a brief rest at Oak's before we head out towards the third Gym. Okay everyone, back in your pokéballs."

* * *

"I lost! How? How could I lose!"

"Wow, you really are a pretty bad loser," Danny commented from behind him. He shrugged, "I thought it might just have been a phase."

"He's been carrying on for the last five minutes," Misty whines. It's starting to get really boring.

Danny sighed. "Oh I can imagine. After I beat him, he found me later and demanded a rematch, and then he lost again at it two weeks later. Brock, can you get out of the way? I want to challenge the Gym Leader."

Misty's eyebrows rose. "Oh, another challenger? So soon? Perhaps my sisters can keep you occupied while I heal-"

"Um Misty? He already beat us," Squeaked Daisy. Misty turned sharply. "Sorry," She said as she lowered her head.

"I can come back later," Danny offered.

"No, no. Come on, let's do this," She said. "Everyone else, clear the arena floor!" rock and Daisy scurried away. "You know the rules?" Danny nodded. "Are you ready?" He nodded again. "Can I have your name?"

"Daniel Knight from Pallet Town."

"Oh. So you're the one he was moaning about," She deduced as she pointed a finger a Brock.

"Sadly, yes. Shall we get this underway?"

"Let's. Okay so this will be a two on two-"

"Two on two? I thought it was a three on three League minimum?"

"Nope. They got rid of that for the time being. Two on two. Go Staryu!"

"Let's do it, Pikachu!"

"A Pikachu? Really! As if I haven't seen the exact same thing fifty times!"

"That's kinda what he said," Danny pointed out, gesturing towards Brock. "And I beat him. Twice."

"Beginner's luck!"

"Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe we waste all afternoon arguing about this. Battle?"

The referee signaled for them to be at the ready, and then slashed her flag. "Begin!"


End file.
